The Rielly Family Eat Well for Less?

Holy guacamole!

Gregg Wallace and Chris Bavin are back

and more determined than ever...

-Oh, look at this!

-Oh!

She's just gone crazy in the confectionery aisle.

..to help families rein in their spending.

-We've been watching everything.

-No! My God!

That is a really funny way of shopping.

They're taking over kitchens...

-Oh!

-It looks like the aubergine emoji.

It's traumatised by that.

..boosting nutrition...

-Apple and carrot don't go together.

-Oh, yes, they do.

..scrutinising popular food and drink.

That's vastly superior.

I like that texture and also it's a lot thicker

so you can get more on your toast.

..and giving the great British public their say...

-I think this is the nicest out of all of them.

-Yeah.

No, definitely not.

..on their mission to show us how we can eat well for less.

-Oh, my God.

-I'm laughing, cos if I don't laugh, I'll cry.

-Yeah, we've got a fair bit of work to do.

-Let's go.

Bring a list!

This week we're in Middlesex,

with the Riellys...

-17.

-13.7.

..who's every shop and meal is a maths lesson.

Look at this!

It's high figures at the checkout,

-Have you any idea how much you spent today?

-Yes.

-That's huge.

..and divided dinners at the table.

We've just got to get that family eating together.

But can Gregg and Chris unite the fusspots

with the foodies...

Spectacular!

..and slash their food bill?

I'm going to give it a go.

We're in Ashford, with a family scoring high on their food spend.

We're the Riellys!

Oh, we met in my local pub many, many moons ago.

I got lucky!

Adam is a risk manager, and Stacy a school lunchtime supervisor.

Brilliant!

And their two kids are eight-year-old Harry

and 12-year-old Izzy.

-Cheese!

-Cheese!

Come on, Izzy, time to go.

My life is very manic.

-You just can't do hair.

-I try!

Izzy has lots of dancing.

Harry plays for a football team, so very, very busy.

Mum rushes around a lot.

And Dad's fat and eats a lot.

Adam is a terrible snacker.

Crisps, I'm awful for crisps.

I can buy a family bag of crisps on the way home,

within a couple of days the whole bag has all gone.

But it's more than crisps that tempt Adam on his nightly commute.

There is a great choice of takeaways on the way back from the station.

Daytona, please. Cod and chips, please, mate.

Three piece meal, please.

'I could get a takeaway every night.'

But Dad isn't the only family member doing his own thing for dinner.

Chopped tomatoes for Izzy.

Sauce for me.

Lamb for Harry.

My family are very fussy eaters.

The fussiest, I would say, is Izzy.

She eats hardly anything.

If something doesn't look nice, I just won't eat it.

You think duck looks disgusting but it's actually delicious.

You have to actually taste it.

Maybe she got that from me.

Any meat that I eat has to melt in the mouth.

I can't think of anything more awful than chomp down on flesh.

-Looks like he has been rolling in mud.

-He does.

Like his dad, Harry loves his food...

Harry is a human dustbin.

From the moment he arrives home from school, his head is in the fridge.

When I need to eat, I eat.

Which is a huge headache for Stacy,

as Harry has type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is when the pancreas

no longer produces insulin for the body.

And the body needs insulin to regulate blood sugar levels.

With a diabetic child, it just goes up and down all the time.

I am 6.8.

That's good, cos I'm supposed to be between four and eight.

And it is foods that contain carbohydrates

which have the biggest effect on sugar levels in the blood.

Chicken wrap.

Chicken doesn't have any carbs, it's just the wrap.

More and more of us are watching the amount of carbs we eat

but for Harry, it's a necessity.

We have to carb-count every meal.

I have to weigh Harry's food to make sure I've got the carbs correct.

Every time Harry eats carbohydrates,

the amount has to be entered into his handset,

so he gets the correct dose of insulin via a pump.

We need to add all those up.

61, 63, 65...

It is a maths lesson, all the time.

Maths, maths, maths.

So to simplify the sums, Harry's given ready meals.

It's so much easier, when adding up Harry's carbs,

because everything is on the packets.

And like a lot of people, Harry snacks on foods

which are either low in carbs or contain no carbs.

He can have things like ham and chicken.

But Harry's condition hasn't just impacted their shopping habits.

I've changed my job recently,

because we have to monitor him around the clock.

It's three o'clock and he's 24.9.

He just doesn't really seem to be going down.

And it's tiring, especially when you've got work the next day.

It's... It's exhausting, but it's really important.

There are lots of health complications

if blood sugars aren't monitored correctly.

Some very severe, um, consequences, actually.

The worst thing that can happen is the child can die.

It's a worry, it's a constant worry.

Cutting Stacy's hours right down has helped them take care of Harry,

but the big drop in salary,

constant snacking and separate dinners

has left a food bill that's breaking the bank.

I need someone to say, "We can help you,"

because my family are everything to me.

Adam and Stacy want to readdress the family's eating habits,

but, for today, it's the same old trip to the local supermarket,

except there are two new faces in store,

ready to spy on the Riellys' weekly shop.

Right, so what we need?

And so they don't miss a move,

Gregg and Chris take up their secret position back in the stockroom.

-Here's Stacy and Adam.

-The life of Rielly!

-Have you got your list?

-I don't have a list.

I never have a list. I know. It's all in here.

-It's not all in here, and it'll soon be out of here.

-Oh, yeah.

All right, what's next on my list?

Adam seems to have a list. Stacy hasn't got a list.

I've got my bags of lettuce. What lettuce are you after?

They haven't got the same list. They can't have the same salad.

I wonder if this is going to be a pattern emerging here.

Fruit and veg done, next stop, bakery.

It's these ones, they're 15.5.

-A serious study of the back of those wraps.

-Yeah, yeah.

And not just the wraps...

Carbohydrate, 17.

OK, so they're obviously checking the amount of carbs in this,

-cos it's for Harry.

-He's got type 1 diabetes, hasn't he?

If they have to do this for everything they're buying for Harry,

I mean, that's a nightmare, isn't it?

Oh!

-How many?

-I'd get three lots, to be honest.

Wow! Look how many snacks are being bought here, Chris.

-Mini Peperamis?

-Yes.

But look at this!

-Whoa, whoa.

-These snacks - what's the salt content,

what's the fat content? How healthy are they?

And how many of them are they actually eating in a week?

Right, one to eat, one to hide at the back of the fridge

when he's eaten all these ones.

And all conveniently put together in one end of aisle for them, as well.

End of aisles offer prime position

and have proven to be hugely successful into luring us

into making impulse buys,

although the Riellys don't need gimmicks to be impulsive!

Going to have to go

-for some cocktail sausages, Adam, for Harry.

-Yes?

This isn't more snacks, is it?

Oh, it is. Oh, it is, as well!

Yeah, party sausages.

Toad-in-the-holes, hot dogs, cooked chicken, ham, a pork pie,

and more of those big-brand chicken bites.

We've been here. This is like Groundhog Day. What's happening?

-Trying to think of my list.

-Bring a list!

What about baked potatoes?

They're buying ready baked potatoes.

Izzy doesn't like the bacon.

What?

See, I'd eat an aromatic duck, just not the other duck.

Why would you eat the aromatic duck and not another duck?

The difference is aromats.

For the men of the house, more red meat.

-Meatballs.

-Izzy and I won't eat it.

What else won't the family eat? Buy that.

Oh, going to get some of these, as well, cos Harry likes these.

Everybody's eating a different thing.

"Me and Harry will eat these, you'll eat them, Izzy will eat that.

"Let's get some more snacks.

"Where's your list? I haven't got my list."

"Have you got your list? Yeah, but I'm not going to check it."

-This is...

-THEY LAUGH

This might be one of the most confused and complicated shops

I think we've seen.

Can you be bothered to grate the cheese?

Wow. That is an incredibly expensive shopping trolley.

I think we'd better intervene.

Adam and Stacy are at the tills, completely oblivious that

Gregg and Chris are about to join their buffet.

Love the shop.

-He's choking!

-You all right, mate?

You eating it before you get it home!

-You're both snacking!

-I'm so sorry.

-Give me that.

-You're both snacking.

This was, I think, the most...

-interesting shop we've ever seen, wasn't it?

-Fascinating.

Are you going to run it through the till?

Go on, give it a go, shall we?

Chris and Gregg are eager to find out more about

dinner time at the Riellys'.

-Are you cooking three or four different meals a night?

-Yeah.

Will Izzy eat the same things as Harry?

No. He loves meat, where she would live on pizza,

tomato soup and some spaghetti.

Is it not possible to find a meal that everyone will eat?

-No.

-That's where the takeaways come in on the way home from work.

If I offer to cook you something,

you'll say, "Oh, I don't fancy any of that."

You can't even have the same salad.

-That's boring.

-Iceberg lettuce is boring?

You've got a block of Cheddar AND grated Cheddar?

-I could be stood there for hours grating the cheese.

-Hours?

THEY LAUGH

Have you any idea how much you've spent today?

Um, I'd go for 100.

-You've spent 127.

-That's a lot.

-Gosh. That's not good.

-That's a lot.

Try and think how many meals have we got for that.

Funnily enough, that's the question that I was asking.

-What's the answer?

-Maybe three to four,

but not all eating the same thing.

That makes it £30 a meal.

It's a hefty receipt...

-Here you are.

-..and little to show for it.

Well, look, don't worry. We've got loads of different solutions

and loads of different ways of fixing this, so shall we get home?

-Excellent.

-Yes.

-Yes, please.

This shop has definitely highlighted how differently we eat.

The Riellys' situation, however, isn't unusual.

Almost a quarter of families in the UK don't eat the same meal together.

But before Gregg and Chris can help Adam and Stacy,

they need to expose the full cost of their family's food habits.

Adam, we've got to congratulate you.

In all the years of doing this, you are the first person...

You were already snacking before you've even left the shop.

From here, through here... down to here...

is all your snacks.

Your snacks purchases make up 27%.

-27%.

-My goodness!

-Wow.

That's just the main shop, that's not the top up.

How many times a week do you reckon you go to the shop?

Possibly three times a week.

On average you go to the shop eight times a week.

Oh, my God! Eight times! Oh, my goodness.

One week you went to the shop 12 times.

-No!

-12 times a week.

And nearly everything they're buying is a big-name brand.

So let's talk about Harry.

He's been diagnosed as having type 1 diabetes.

-Yep.

-Yeah.

-How does that affect the family?

It's impacted a lot with us having to spend more money,

cos he wants to have all these things to eat all the time,

because he's just starving all the time.

What we don't know is how much of that is due to the diabetes

and how much of it is down to habit.

And I think for the convenience, as well, so, you know, we probably

spend more money on things that are pre-cooked

than actually if it was fresh produce and cook ourselves.

They're all carb counted ready.

And carbohydrates cos your body turns that into sugar?

-Carbohydrates into sugars.

-Yes.

We just try and keep things as low carb as possible.

So how much are the Riellys spending every week?

We've got your receipts here and we've added them up.

-Yeah.

-And on average...

-Yeah.

-You're spending over £130 a week in the supermarket.

The national average for a family of four is £81.40.

-Wow.

-No way!

-You're over 50% more than that.

-Oh.

But their food spend doesn't end at the supermarket.

We've worked it out, with your takeaways and the takeaways

that you have as a family,

that's putting about £30 a week on top of your supermarket shop.

£30!

You're whole spend on food is coming to £160 a week.

That's over eight grand a year.

Shocker.

It is a shocker.

We can't blame that all on Harry, can we?

I should hope not!

How do you feel about your spend?

Bad. I'm doing less hours now,

and so that's a biggie where we need to save money,

because I'm spending more than I'm earning.

Izzy wants to join drama groups, I'm thinking,

"Well, we can't really afford for her to do that."

It's completely understandable how you find yourself in this position,

relying heavily on pre-made or convenience foods,

but we think there must be a better way.

-So, are you up for this?

-Definitely.

-Definitely.

-Yes?

-Absolutely.

The Riellys aren't alone

to be suddenly confronted with diabetes.

One in ten people with diabetes have type 1

and although it can develop at any age,

it usually appears in childhood.

Harry was diagnosed two and a half years ago,

and it was a real shock because of the fact

that we don't have anyone in the family that has it.

And, unlike type 2 diabetes, type 1 isn't related to lifestyle

and cannot be treated with diet and exercise - only insulin.

He did say to me the other day, "When will I get better?"

And it's very hard.

How do you tell a five-year-old kid that this is for life?

There is no getting better.

Well, this is a challenge, mate, isn't it?

Harry with his diabetes, Stacy with her fussiness,

Izzy with her fussiness,

we've just got to get that family eating together.

I mean, that carb counting, I mean, that must make

every shopping trip particularly stressful.

Why are Adam and Stacy giving Harry so many meat snacks?

Well, I think because they don't have to carb count it.

They know there's no carbohydrates in it, so they know

it's safe for him to eat almost as much as he wants.

It's one thing giving him snacks with no carbs,

but what else is in those snacks?

And I don't think they're filling him up,

hence the amount of snacking he's doing.

So, if we can, get this family eating the same meal,

cut Harry's expensive snacking down,

stop Adam go into that takeaway as often as he does,

and get a few sneaky food swaps in there,

how much do you think we can save them?

If we manage all of that, and it's a big if, I reckon £40 a week.

£40. I reckon we could get them down by about 60 quid.

That's crazy.

-Well, look, let's see.

-Food swaps, mate, food swaps.

So when the Riellys were out,

we swooped in and seized control of their food stores.

Oh!

It looks like a crime scene.

The family's foods have been arrested...

No Frubes, no Peperamis, no cheese strings.

..and replaced.

Wholemeal toast with hummus...

-Do you think I'll be able to try some, as well?

-No.

-I love hummus.

-It says Harry's snacks, not Adam's snacks.

Most swaps are cheaper...

-Oh!

-Tomato soup, Izzy!

..but some foods...

-Wow!

-Wow!

..haven't even been swapped.

-Diet cola!

-Is it Coca-Cola or not?

But ditching brands is only one part of the challenge.

Where's my grated cheese?

-It's gone.

-Seriously. That's going to take me hours to grate that.

For the family to really save on their food spend,

it's out with the old...

All my pasta sauces are gone.

..and in with the new...

It looks like the aubergine emoji.

I want to hold the purple thing.

..for everyone.

-Chicken breasts.

-It's raw!

-It's nice.

-But everything starts raw, you've got to cook it.

-It looks like lungs.

I did say to Gregg and Chris that I wanted to cook more from scratch

and they've definitely taken me at my word.

Two shelves and two trays taped up.

Oh!

That out of bounds shelf is... Oh!

It's swap week.

With the boys out, soup fan Izzy's reached for something familiar.

Or is it?

It smells really different.

Hold it, we haven't even got the tin open properly, yet.

With tomato soup a staple of Izzy's diet,

the Riellys buy three cans a week of a leading brand.

I always go for the same one every time.

We find that's the better taste.

Oh, you do, do you?

Well, ladies, is this your usual soup, or isn't it?

-It's not ours.

-I think it is.

Oh, mum and daughter disagree.

Izzy's right. We've swapped their big brand soup

for a supermarket budget brand. 71p cheaper.

The actual taste tastes exactly the same as the normal one.

-It tastes exactly the same.

-Yes.

At 24p a can, that's over £9 a month,

a super saving of nearly £110 a year.

Would we swap from our normal one to this one?

-Yes.

-Yes, me, too. It's really nice, actually.

Izzy spotted the soup swap straightaway...

I'm the master taster of crisps.

..but will crisp addict Adam be as successful?

I am by far the biggest crisp fan in this house.

So, can Mr Confident Rielly

recognise his much-loved leading brand?

Salt and vinegar's my usual flavour.

And...?

No, I think they're different.

Are you sure, Adam?

I would say these are a swapped item.

Maybe you should try again.

I think they are swaps.

I'll give you one last chance.

-I think they're different.

-Adam, they're not different.

Seems you don't know your crisps as well as you think you do.

But they aren't his only vice.

Like a lot of us,

Adam loves a good old-fashioned British pork pie

and last year we forked out over £160 million on them.

But what makes a tasty pork pie?

We've hit the road to Southampton to ask these truckers.

It's just got some decent meat in it and a decent pastry and I'm happy.

Price is quite important.

It's got to be tasty.

We've picked five pork pies for our lorry drivers to road test.

Premium brand Dickenson & Morris at 72p per 100g.

Premium supermarket Waitrose at 61p.

A Morrisons own brand at 57p.

Tesco's also at 57p.

And the priciest pie by luxury brand Fortnum & Mason,

costing £2.49 per 100g.

First up, the luxury brand.

Containing the least calories and fat of the five,

it's also the only pie to be made with cured pork.

Pastry looks good on this one.

Tastes a bit salty in the middle there, though.

A bit of a bacony taste, rather than pork.

It's lovely, actually.

Will the mid-priced premium supermarket,

second-highest in fat and calories, do better?

Good bit of pepper in there. That's all right.

I'd have this one again.

This one is way too fatty.

Next, an own brand. It's one of the cheapest

and contains the least amount of pork in the line-up.

The pastry's nice but too gristly.

Hasn't got the punch of the second one, has it?

-No, the second one had a lovely taste.

-Yeah.

Now, an award-winning pork pie.

Highest in fat and calories,

it also contains the most pork and is second priciest.

-That's quite tasty.

-Tastes more like pork than the others.

Pastry makes it.

Demolished this one, so it must have been better than the others.

With a tough act to follow,

the final pie is joint cheapest and another own brand.

Yeah, it's like no taste, like eating cardboard.

-It's not like pork.

-No.

Definitely not.

So which pork pie would these truckers fork out for?

And the winner is Dickinson & Morris of Melton Mowbray.

Oh!

So, miles ahead of the competition,

was the award-winning pie that contained the most pork,

most fat

and was second most expensive,

leaving the cheapest pies

bottom of the board

and the luxury brand with

the least fat and calories third.

Seems for these lorry drivers, paying that little bit more

and forgetting the diet is the way to go.

The best pie won because it had a nice texture, the pastry was nice.

It was the best.

I think I'd be a bit more fussier about my choice of pie.

I'm not surprised about the winner.

It was just so much better than all the rest of them.

In Middlesex,

Gregg's returned to the Riellys' to give Stacy a helping hand

in the kitchen.

Now Stacy's working part-time,

she says she's got more time to cook, and she wants to cook.

I find that very exciting.

-Hello.

-Hello.

But before they get cracking, Gregg wants a chat about Harry's snacks,

and to do that, has brought a day's worth of his munchies.

Oh.

Gosh. Oh.

That's a lot of snacks.

-It's a fair old whack of snacks.

-There is.

In this daily are six teaspoons of sugar.

That's the equivalent to 24g,

and the maximum amount of added sugar

a seven- to ten-year-old child should have in a day.

Harry's recommended daily sugar allowance

is made up of these snacks.

That's awful.

Just from this, Harry's consuming 70% of his maximum intake of salt

and, shockingly, almost three quarters of his daily allowance

of saturated fat - both major causes of heart disease and stroke.

If this isn't addressed,

this is going to cause problems later in life.

Diabetes has enough complications, as it is.

You're not alone, all right, if people weren't buying these,

they wouldn't be on the shelves.

But I'm going to have to completely rethink all these snacks.

It can't be all these things.

Well, Gregg's brought one idea with him,

and it's not just a healthier meaty snack for Harry,

it's also a meal for the whole family.

-It's pork.

-Oh.

-Do you not eat pork?

-A bit slimy.

Who else doesn't eat pork?

-Izzy.

-A little bird tells me you're partial to a bit of bacon.

-Yeah.

-And you also like Parma ham.

Yeah.

Izzy regularly eats pizza with pepperoni on it.

-Yes.

-And when I met you at the supermarket,

you were busily tucking into a mini toad-in-the-hole.

Bits of pig. It's pork!

SHE GIGGLES

And today, Gregg's making pork kebabs with couscous.

-All I ask is you give it a go.

-I'm going to give it a go.

Good on you, Stacy.

Right, garlic.

Oh.

For the kebabs, Stacy starts by crushing garlic and grating carrot.

-If we pack it out with veg, we use less meat.

-Brilliant.

Bulking out meat dishes with vegetables can make them cheaper,

healthier and help keep the meat moist.

Get your hands in there.

Harry loves his spicy salami snacks,

so Gregg's decided to give his pork kebabs a kick.

-Coriander.

-Yeah.

-Cumin.

-Yeah, I like both of those.

You want half a teaspoon of chilli.

Gregg's chosen lean pork mince...

Go on, chef.

..but turkey mince could work just as well.

Let's have a smell.

Oh, really good.

Two thirds of the meat mix will be used for the main kebabs,

leaving the rest for Harry's snacks.

Right, stock.

-Yes.

-Couscous.

-Yes.

Gregg adds peppers, spring onion, apricots and dried chives.

I've given you dried chives because, with herbs,

I find everybody uses fresh herbs, then has to bin them.

Adding dried chives to a wet mixture will rehydrate them

and the heat of the stock will soften the other veg.

That looks lovely.

Doesn't it? One portion of this is one of your five a day.

-Fabulous.

-Isn't it just?

-Mmm.

Couscous set aside, the kebabs are browned in a hot pan.

-What can you smell?

-Deliciousness.

I'm actually salivating, which I didn't think I'd ever do with pork.

Amazing. Once cool enough to handle,

the kebabs are skewered and baked for ten minutes.

What do you think of the idea of cooking one recipe that's dinner

-and snacks?

-Absolutely fantastic.

What's more, it's a bargain.

These snacks are less than half the price

of Harry's usual packet salami,

and dinner for four comes to just over a fiver.

-How's that?

-Ah, that looks brilliant.

-It's really good.

-Thank you.

-I enjoyed that.

-And I ate it!

It's been fun cooking, but will the family,

who usually all eat different dinners, tuck in?

Now, have a little bit off there.

I think it should taste a little bit like your pepperoni.

-Yeah.

-It does, doesn't it?

-What do you think, Harry?

-Spectacular!

Stace, it's brilliant. That's really good.

I'm actually really tucking in here,

considering I said I would never eat anything like this.

Izzy, you seem to be tucking in, as well.

-Well done.

-I want to have them in the future.

Well, what about if we put these in the fridge for snacks?

Then I would just be happy for the rest of my life.

Great news, because compared to his usual salami snack,

Gregg's kebabs contain almost 60% less calories,

80% less saturated fat and have 96% less salt.

Harry, if you want to grow up and look like me,

you've got to swap snacks.

Bye-bye, Peperamis, hello, these.

THEY ALL LAUGH

The Riellys' first family dinner and snack swap done.

That, I have to say, is an absolute triumph.

Upwards and onwards.

Since Harry's type 1 diabetes diagnosis,

Adam and Stacy have been trying to keep him on a low carb diet.

But it's not just diabetics who are carb counting.

One in five Brits believe banning carbs

is the best way to lose weight,

with a quarter of us thinking they're bad for our health.

But is that right?

Gregg and Chris have come to ask dietician Hala El-Shafie.

Listen, why are people down on carbs?

I mean, people diet and they go, "Oh, I'm not going to eat carbs.

"No carbs before Marbs."

Are carbs bad for you?

No. Carbohydrates are not unhealthy. That's a complete myth.

In fact, some of our healthiest foods contain carbohydrates.

The lovely Riellys have got Harry, who's got type 1 diabetes,

so they're really trying to reduce the amount of carbs

-that Harry's eating.

-Even for somebody with type 1 diabetes,

they're essential - we need them for brain health,

heart health and for a varied, balanced diet.

In fact, they are our primary source of energy.

When we eat carbohydrates, our body breaks them down to glucose,

which we actually use for fuel.

Hala's set out an array of foods and wants Gregg and Chris

to guess which have carbs and which haven't.

What are you going to call the game, Play Your Carbs Right?

THEY ALL CHEER

Go on, dolly, do your dealing.

Chris to go first.

-They're definitely in the biscuits.

-Yes.

Definitely carbs in bananas, isn't it?

I think they've all got carbs in apart from the nuts.

Well, actually, everything on this table contains carbohydrates,

but the difference is, some are simple carbohydrates

-and some are complex carbohydrates.

-OK, so what's the difference?

The simple carbs would be the white pasta, white rice and white bread,

because they contain refined carbohydrates.

Our bodies convert refined carbohydrates quickly,

which can cause blood sugar levels to spike.

What then happens is they crash back down very quickly

and result in you craving more.

-What's a complex carb, then?

-So a complex carbohydrate would be

something like the wholemeal bread and the wholemeal pasta.

So these are slow-release carbohydrates, so basically,

they keep you feeling fuller for longer

and actually stabilise your blood sugars.

Nuts, beans and wholegrains,

plus fibrous and starchy vegetables,

are all examples of complex carbs.

So, if all the carbs are giving us fuel,

the simple ones are giving us fuel really quickly,

that we burn off quick and then want more,

and the brown ones release the fuels slowly,

they're the complex ones, we feel energised longer?

That's pretty much it.

So if you wanted to maybe lose weight, actually, complex carbs

-are the best things to eat, cos you feel fuller longer?

-Yeah.

-Exactly.

-So completely the opposite of what a lot of people are doing.

So are we saying we should be avoiding simple carbs?

We should be limiting simple carbohydrates.

And choosing wisely.

Chocolate bars, pastries and sweets are simple carbs,

but fruit and some veg contain natural simple carbohydrates, too.

However, it comes with so much vitamins that it's worth it?

Yeah, absolutely.

Plus the fibre in these food slows down digestion,

making them more like complex carbs.

So the general rule of thumb is try and avoid heavily refined,

really sugary carbs and make some nice simple changes,

like switching from white bread to wholemeal bread,

white rice to brown rice.

-Spot on.

-Fabulous.

-Brilliant.

At the Riellys', carbs are back on the menu for Harry.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

We've given him a list of healthy,

nutritious snacks recommended by Diabetes UK.

Hopefully, swapping his meat snacks for these will keep him feeling full

for longer, so he's not snacking eight times a day,

or nagging Stacy for dinner.

Oatcakes, ten out of ten, because it was delicious.

It's the first evening meal of the swap.

I'm getting arm ache!

I'm not used to chopping this much stuff!

After her confidence boost from Gregg,

Stacy's going solo and cooking one meal for the whole family.

And on the menu is pasta in a home-made sauce.

If I make a pasta sauce, I prefer to use a jar,

so I'm a little bit nervous about making my own sauce, actually.

But making her own could save Stacy over a quid

and save her as much as £60 a year.

Plus it's a sneaky way of hiding healthy veg from fussy kids.

Oh, it's smelling like a pasta sauce already.

And with some blitzing, it looks just like one, too.

But we've not just saved the Riellys readies on the sauce...

That is not our normal cheese.

This supermarket own brand is over a quid cheaper

than the branded Cheddar they buy.

And is nearly 50% bigger - enough spare to grate.

I hate grating!

Life's too short to grate.

But this little hand action is free

and could save the family £65 a year.

As Adam loves his meat, Stacy's topping his pasta with bacon, which,

in a microwave, takes just four minutes.

But is Stacy confident he'll like his dinner?

This wouldn't normally appeal to Adam.

If I'm cooking pasta, he'll pretty much most of the time say,

"I'm not really too fussed. Don't worry about me."

Not just Adam.

Usually, picky Izzy has tinned tomatoes,

Stacy, the ready-made sauce,

and Harry a low-carb packet dinner.

So what's the verdict?

-Mmm. That's good.

-It has more taste.

It has more taste?

It's all right.

Surely this has got to be more exciting

than a tin of plum tomatoes on your pasta?

It's just, like, not as good.

So Izzy's not keen.

Look at that plate, Izzy, look how much your brother's eaten.

Compared with that.

But will Stacy's meal get a yes from the man who usually swerves

pasta night for a meaty takeaway?

I'm not a big fan of pasta shapes.

But...

This is delicious. You made this?

-Yeah, from scratch. Lots of chopping.

-So, no, no...

-I was grating.

-Wow.

Wow, indeed.

Because at just over £2,

this one meal is 12 quid cheaper

than the Riellys' usual separate dinners.

Stick with this once a week and they've banked £50 a month.

That's over £600 a year.

So definitely have it again?

-Yeah.

-So I've kept you away from takeaways...

-Definitely.

..with my pasta.

-Excellent! Good news.

-Absolutely.

Brilliant news. Takeaways can be high in salt,

so bad for blood pressure.

Cooking from scratch means we can control how much salt

is in our food.

But the price of this basic ingredient can vary massively.

From 47p a kilo for table salt,

to £25 for sea salt.

But should we pay more, and, if so, why?

Chris has come to Cornwall to ask sea salt producer Philip Tanswell.

You harvest sea salt here, don't you?

-Yes, we do.

-But salt's salt, isn't it?

What's the difference between sea salt and table salt?

Sea salt is made up with a whole range

of different minerals from the sea.

As well as sodium, minerals such as magnesium,

calcium and potassium.

Table salt is salt which is mined from the ground.

It then has all these minerals stripped off it.

Some of these minerals can be made into supplements

and all that's left is sodium chloride.

Which is then sold to us really cheaply as table salt.

You're saying that table salt is an incredibly refined product,

whereas sea salt is more natural?

Sea salt maintains all those minerals in there,

making a huge difference to flavour.

And it's the coastline where the salt comes from.

Sea salt is really dissolved rock.

You can taste the differences from around the world.

The Lizard Peninsula, where we are located, has a unique geology.

OK. A different manufacturer

-will produce a slightly different product?

-Correct.

And every sea salt maker has their own way of producing it.

We've got the sea, what happens next?

We have a big pump and we suck 15,000 litres of water per hour

from here eight metres up to our processing plant.

-15,000 litres an hour?

-Yeah, it's a lot of buckets.

Here, the sea water is filtered and,

to minimise its impact on the environment,

only a small percentage of salt is extracted before the water

gets pumped back into the sea.

The remaining liquid then gets sent to big open tanks to

crystallise under heated lamps.

Crystals are starting to form on the surface.

The form that the salt takes gives you quite a good indication as to

how much of a process it's been through.

Correct. When you buy some salt, if it's purely a cuboid crystal,

then it's a processed salt.

If you see a whole range of different shapes,

you would have bought a natural sea salt.

Which is one of the reasons why it costs more.

The way it's harvested impacts price, too.

Here it's by hand.

There's got to be an easier way than that, surely?

There probably is but we haven't automated it yet.

One tank produces 40-50 kilos of salt every 12 hours,

enough salt for one person for 23 years.

-I love the noise it makes.

-SALT TINKLES

That sort of tinkly type sound as it goes in,

when you know the salt's just perfect.

-Not bad for a greengrocer.

-Oh, thank you very much, yeah.

The next stage for the salt is to go through the dryer.

It's then packed and ready to eat.

So we've got the finished product here, which I'm dying to taste.

To compare flavour, Chris is going to try table salt first.

It tastes,

as you would expect - salty.

Now for the sea salt.

Yeah, I mean, that is different.

It's not as overpowering. You get, like, a hint of salt,

then the tomato flavour

and then another sort of layer of salt after that.

This is more of a flavour enhancer...

-Yeah.

-..whereas this is more blunt, bitter salt flavour.

Yeah, I think that's a very good analogy.

Boiling potatoes, table salt is probably fine.

Eating the finished article, sea salt.

It's been thoroughly fascinating. Thank you very much.

Table salt might be slightly bitter in the mouth,

but I think it's a bit sweeter in the pocket,

so, as an ingredient, I think table salt's still got a place,

but as a flavour enhancer and just finishing off food,

I think sea salt might be the way to go.

So, if the flavour of salt matters to you,

it could be worth spending that little bit more.

In a primary school in Middlesex... GRANGE HILL THEME PLAYS

Seconds.

..it's lunchtime.

Oh, mini-biscuits.

Why does everything have name labels on it?

Because they swapped my food.

Correct. We did the math on Harry's big brand-packed lunch and by

swapping in supermarket own brands, it works out nearly 50% cheaper.

How's your drink, Harry?

It's really good and I think it's different.

Spot on. Harry's usual brand costs 50p a bottle.

This costs just 20p.

These crisps are delicious.

Fantastic, as these budget supermarket crisps

cost just 75p for six -

a saving of 95p per multipack.

I'd rather have these ones if they're less expensive.

But one of the biggest savings is on the fromage frais because,

like his mates, Harry's used to having a lunchbox leading brand.

Do you miss your tube yoghurts in your lunch?

Yeah.

# Hello darkness, my old friend.

# I've come to talk with you again... #

I want my tube yoghurts back.

Oh, dear.

But swapping could bank the family over a fiver a week

and make a big dent in their food bill.

If it's cheaper, then you may as well have it.

Harry doesn't look convinced.

But if he did keep all of the lunchbox alternatives,

over a year Mum and Dad could save a bell-ringing 200 quid.

BELL RINGS

It's midway through the swap experiment

and there's been some big changes in the Rielly household.

Cooked chicken and snack chicken have been replaced with...

..chicken.

-Good?

-Better and bigger.

Ready-made baked potatoes have made way for...potatoes.

That is so delicious.

And cheap. Cooking their own spud saves £220 a year.

But one of the biggest transformations

happened after school.

Harry, do you fancy a snack?

No, I'm not hungry.

So obviously his lunch filled him up.

I don't think that's happened since he started school.

His blood sugar levels have been pretty good this week, as well.

Fantastic.

Unfortunately, though, not all our swaps have been a success.

No, I'm not overly keen on the drink.

And when it came to meat, Adam and Stacy definitely didn't agree.

-I'm not keen.

-That's proper ham.

-I know.

-It's not like processed stuff.

To me, that is just too thick, meaty.

-It's ham.

-I know it is, but I like the wafer thin one,

which you don't have to chew.

No, I wouldn't swap.

If the family are going to slash their food bill,

they need to find meals they're all willing to eat which, so far,

hasn't proved easy.

So Gregg and Chris are back with dietician Hala.

I think it's very common to have, within the same family,

fussy eaters and more adventurous eaters,

that really struggle to find a meal

that will cater to everybody's taste.

-So, can you?

-Yes.

I've got just the dish, a rainbow pad Thai.

It looks great, but it also tastes amazing.

Adam and Harry are massive carnivores,

but Hala's made this pad Thai meat free.

Not even a bit of chicken breast?

No, this is a dish that even the meat eaters

are going to be envious of.

-That's a really hot wok.

-SIZZLING

Listen to that sizzle.

Gregg stir-fries spring onion, garlic, pepper,

shredded carrot and courgette.

These little ribbons, which actually cook really quickly.

That is beautiful and healthy.

You only use about a tablespoon of oil.

Veg softened, it's time to make the sauce.

This is super easy to make.

Hala combines sweet chilli, soy sauce and the juice of a lime.

So what is it you're making the dressing in, then?

-Is that a jam jar?

-Yes, it's a jam jar.

It's just really easy to mix it.

Wok back on the heat, in goes veg stock,

Hala's sauce and wholewheat noodles -

a slow-releasing carbohydrate.

Do you know what, I didn't even know you could get wholewheat noodles.

Brilliant.

The pad Thai's finished off with crushed peanuts, coriander, and,

for those who like spice, chilli.

Look at that. Look at the colours. That is beautiful.

From start to finish, this dish takes 20 minutes -

perfect for the busy Rielly family.

Definitely quicker than you can order a takeaway.

Cheaper, too.

As, for four, it costs just £3.10.

So what's that, like, 78p each?

-Exactly.

-Amazing.

It's got loads of veggies in here, very little fat.

And no meat.

So do you miss the meat in this dish?

No, it's got so many flavours, so many different textures, I don't.

-Not at all, no.

-That would convince even the most committed carnivore to

skip meat every now and then.

Absolutely delicious and it costs £3.10.

Inspired by Hala's pad Thai,

Chris is back in Middlesex with the boldest idea of the swap so far.

Unlike his wife and daughter, Adam really does love his meat.

-Chris, how have you been?

-Very well, yeah.

But Chris is hoping to convince him that a veggie dinner

can be just as tasty.

-We're going to be cooking with these.

-OK, kidney beans, yeah.

Have you cooked with these before?

We've had them in a chilli con carne.

Well, today, Chris is making red kidney bean wraps.

High in fibre, just three tablespoons gives you

one of your five-a-day.

-Can you catch?

-Aggh!

Chris chucks the beans, egg, coriander, chilli,

garlic and lemon into a food processor.

Squeeze it, squeeze it.

Then blitzes to a coarse puree.

It looks quite weird.

Weird, good weird, delicious weird,

-"I'd rather have this than a can of soup" weird?

-No.

Have faith, Izzy.

Before baking, Chris fries the wrap filling

to get a nice crispy coating.

So, Adam, did you think you'd be making a vegetarian wrap today?

I didn't, Chris, no.

We all know that too much red and processed meat isn't good for us,

and, since its links to cancer have been publicised,

almost 30% of us have cut down our consumption.

Are you proud of yourself for making that?

-Yeah.

-I think you should be. That's absolutely brilliant.

Looks great, but will everyone like it?

Delicious. This is really lovely.

-Yeah. It's fantastic.

-So good.

-Izzy, what do you think?

-It's really good.

-Brilliant. Dad?

-Lovely. Very good.

-You're not missing the meat?

Delicious. No, not at all.

Could you have imagined Adam tucking into a vegetarian wrap before today?

No.

Would you like to hazard a guess as to how much it costs?

-ADAM:

-£1.30.

-£3.50.

£3.50?

This cost 78p.

-Wow!

-Each one of these.

What? You're not telling the truth.

ALL LAUGH

'That went amazingly well.'

Adam and Izzy really embraced making the meat-free kebabs and the whole

family really enjoyed eating them together.

It's delicious. Really, really enjoyed it.

It was lovely to see Izzy getting so involved and she looked quite proud

of herself, actually, how much she'd joined in.

Encouraging kids to take a more active role in cooking

can help them eat a wider variety of food.

So Izzy's back in the kitchen, this time with Harry,

to make tomorrow's breakfast.

Bircher mue-el-sli.

No, Bircher muesli.

Muesli.

That's right. Bircher muesli,

which is a combo of porridge oats and grated apple...

This is harder than you think.

Water...

Yeah, that's exactly on the 100.

Honey.

It's sticky.

Yoghurt and frozen fruit.

And skadoosh!

Next, we need to mix really well until the oats are covered.

This recipe gives you one of your five a day and, once made,

it can last up to three days...

That actually looks quite yummy.

..making it a perfect breakfast for time pressured families on the go.

Can't wait to have it...

..tomorrow.

-Ew!

-But before diving in...

-Eat it with a spoon.

-No.

..it's best to leave in the fridge overnight to soak.

-I'll help you.

-I don't need helping, Harry. Harry, I don't need helping.

Saturday morning.

Mum, Dad, breakfast!

Usually the family's split three ways for breakfast -

Mum with a yoghurt,

Dad and Harry at a fast food restaurant

and Izzy with nothing at all,

but today's different.

-Very interesting.

-It's gone purple.

Porridge is a slow-releasing carb,

so a great start to the day for us all.

Have you ever heard of Bircher muesli before?

No, I haven't, no, never had it before.

-Delicious.

-It's lovely, isn't it? Really nice.

It's even better cos it's made by children.

Usually, the Riellys spend over a fiver on Saturday breakfasts.

This cost less than £1.70 -

a saving of £15 a month,

which is over 180 quid a year.

Plus, Izzy's eating.

When Izzy has a hand in making the food, she'll actually eat it,

-as well, which is good.

-And we all ate the same thing. Lovely.

Winner.

It's the final night of the swap, and Adam's making the family's

favourite takeaway...

HE SINGS TO HIMSELF

..Southern-style chicken.

I would never have thought of making this at home.

For his home-made bucket, Adam begins by removing the skin.

Make one slash with a knife.

Chicken skin can be slippery, but kitchen roll is good for grip.

There you go. Voila!

Next, Adam sprinkles paprika,

thyme and onion granules into cornflakes.

I wouldn't have thought cornflakes and fried chicken would go together,

but maybe this is the Colonel's secret recipe we've found.

Except this version is much healthier.

Instead of fried, Adam's will be baked,

and it's the cornflakes

that'll give the chicken its crunchy coating.

Nice de-stresser, this.

Who needs stress balls when you've got cornflakes to crush?

So the cereal sticks, Adam bathes the chicken in a mix of milk,

lemon, salt and pepper, then dips.

-There you go, done.

-Now they're ready to cook.

No Southern-style chicken

would be complete without a certain side order.

These do look like our usual French fries.

Except we've replaced the Riellys' usual big brand

for a supermarket own version.

They cost the same, but the bag's over twice as big,

so you get more than double the chips for your dosh.

Right, I reckon they're done.

And in less time than it would take for him to go to his takeaway and

back, Adam's Southern-style chicken is served.

Bon appetit-ay!

So?

The chicken's actually really good.

I think this is probably my favourite so far.

Result, because the Riellys' usual takeaway costs just under 14 quid.

This home-made version was less than four.

And it's not just the chicken that's going down well...

-Dad, try the ketchup.

-I love the ketchup.

I think that's either the one we normally have, or even better.

But it's neither.

It's a supermarket own brand, half the price of their usual big brand.

Love this mayonnaise.

I think it is tastes the same as our usual brand.

-Right.

-But surprise surprise, it's another supermarket own make,

a third cheaper than their usual branded mayo.

This is the same.

It's not.

This supermarket cola is almost double the size

of their usual leading brand

and nearly £1.20 cheaper.

And if the family kept all of tonight's swaps,

over a year they'd save an incredible finger-licking 800 quid.

If the master plan is that we're going to eat well for less and all

eat together, we've succeeded.

You certainly have.

-Yes.

-ALL:

-Cheers!

-To Daddy!

-Well done, team Rielly.

Morning in Middlesex, and Gregg and Chris are back to see how the family

have got on.

This, no doubt about it, was a massive challenge.

This family were under a particular amount of pressure,

I really hope we've managed to help.

It's been an amazing experience, actually,

it's things like the carb counting, we've always felt,

"Oh, keep the carbs low," but it's not a problem.

It's really made me relax a lot more.

-What did you think we could save them?

-I said £40.

You, ridiculously, said 60.

You're about to look a fool.

HE LAUGHS

-Not for the first time.

-I don't win many, though, do I?

No, none in fact.

I'm really excited when Gregg and Chris come and show us what we've

been eating, what's swapped, what isn't.

Well, Adam, you're about to find out.

-Hello.

-Hi, Chris, Gregg, come in.

So, food swaps, how did we get on?

-Brilliant.

-Yeah, we loved it.

-Yeah.

-Adam, takeaways?

No takeaways at all, Chris.

No. Good, wholesome home-cooked meals.

Snacks, hardly any.

-No snacking?

-Harry as well?

And Harry as well, yeah. Yeah.

Did Izzy eat stuff?

-She did.

-She did really well.

Blimey. Get you.

This is a revolution.

We did have one sad phone call from the local kebab shop.

There's always going to be casualties.

Time for Adam and Stacy to see what was swapped and what wasn't.

Crisps. You fancy yourself as a crisp connoisseur, do you?

Yeah. I'm the master taster of crisps.

I would say these were a swapped item.

Except they weren't.

You were eating your usual brand of crisps.

-Does that surprise you?

-Yeah, it does actually.

-Yeah.

-And the surprises don't stop there.

Let me ask you about tomato soup.

Izzy and I actually preferred the tomato soup.

Oh, well, let's have a look at this.

There's... There's you...

-No way.

-Wow!

See, I would never do that. Cos I always think,

"No, you can't get better tomato soup than the branded one."

Have a look at this.

Wow!

-It's a swap.

-Yeah, it's a swap.

-Yeah.

Over a year, switching soup, plus these family favourites...

I really couldn't tell the difference.

-Wow.

-And this is just a bottle of sauce.

..saves the Riellys over £400.

Wow, it's no contest. Yeah, it stays.

There was one particular product however...

# Hello, darkness, my old friend... #

..the master of the house wasn't prepared to part with.

I want my tube yoghurts back.

Harry's yoghurts. How did he get on with them?

-He didn't like them.

-This is what we gave him.

-This is the saving.

-Whoa!

-Wow!

And that's not all.

Chris has the potential annual saving in cold hard cash.

You would save just over £70.

Do you think we could convince him...

-Yeah.

-..to persevere with these?

-Yeah.

-For that.

-Yes.

It's amazing, isn't it? One product.

A huge amount.

I'm shocked, actually.

-So we're keeping these?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-This is going remarkably well, Mr Wallace.

-Splendid.

Now what about Colonel Adam's home-cooked takeaway?

You had a Southern-style chicken recipe.

It was good. Very, very good. Yeah.

The family's usual takeout chicken sets them back

almost 14 quid a time.

This is the saving.

-Wow!

-Whoa.

-Amazing.

-That is a huge amount.

So huge it'll save the family over £500 a year.

So the next time you want your Southern fried chicken,

-are we going to the takeaway?

-No, we'll do it ourselves.

-Doing it ourselves.

-Sure?

-Yeah.

-Positive.

-Absolutely.

In fact, cooking from scratch...

Wow.

..meant the Riellys cashed in.

-Wow.

-Huge.

-And from a health perspective as well.

-Not half.

With the Bircher breakfast a big hit.

It was absolutely delicious.

Now, how about that little hand action Stacy loathes?

Life's too short to grate.

-This is the cheese we gave you.

-Wow.

That was really nice.

Did you grate that?

-I did grate it.

-Did it take hours?

It didn't, actually.

-How long did it take roughly?

-A couple of minutes.

And not only does it have less fat...

-Whoa, that's good.

-..look at the saving.

-No...

-Wow, look at that.

As for the chips...

Oh. Interesting.

-Same price.

-Double the size.

-Whoa.

-Size, wow.

And Gregg's got more good news.

20% less fat.

Excellent.

80% less salt.

-Wow.

-80? Oh, that is unbelievable.

Isn't it? And you didn't even know we had swapped them.

-No.

-No.

Out of all of the swaps, the Riellys only disliked a couple of items...

It tasted sweeter for me.

Yeah. I didn't like it.

..meaning 96% of the products the family tried...

-Yeah.

-Crying out loud!

Whoa, that, that's huge.

..got the thumbs up.

Definitely keeping those.

Yes!

Now Gregg and Chris have totted up how much the Riellys has saved.

Can you remind me what it is you wanted to save for?

Cos I'm working less hours now and Izzy wants to do extra

drama classes, so we were looking to save, really, at least £30 a week.

When we first met you, you were spending £160 a week.

-Wow, yeah.

-We've managed to save you...

..£75 a week.

What? Oh, my gosh.

Wow. £75 a week?

That's amazing.

Which over the course of a year comes to just under

£4,000.

-Wow!

-£75 a week? A week!

I can't believe it!

-How do you feel?

-I feel shocked, actually,

cos I was thinking to save that much money,

we're going to lose the quality in food, but we haven't.

Why pay more when you can eat well for less?

Gregg and Chris have slashed the Riellys' food bill by almost half.

We're absolutely ecstatic.

-Yeah.

-Really happy.

-Really chuffed.

-Yeah, we are.

-Still can't believe it.

Do you know what? That family have done amazingly well.

Not only did we manage to save them

an absolute fortune, they're happier.

And that's the good news.

The bad news is I think I've lost the bet again, haven't I?

Yes, you did. What did you say? 40. I said...60.

-It doesn't matter, I'm better looking.

-That's subjective.

No, my mum said.

Next time...